The Krueger in Everyone
by Panic at the Beatles Disco
Summary: Scarlet Rory is a sixteen year old emo girl, who moves from place to place. She moves to Elm Street, and dreams of a man with knives on his fingers. Is he more than just a dream, or is Scarlet crazy? *My first FanFiction! Don't hate!*
1. Chapter 1

_ Janice took a deep breath and looked up at her smiling husband, Eric._

_ "You're doing fine, honey," he said encouragingly. Janice would have said something, but she was in too much pain._

_ A few pain-filled minutes were filled by some screams and deep breathing when Eric said, "Sweetie, look at your baby!"_

_ Janice looked at here newborn child. _She's beautiful!_ Janice thought._

_ "What are you going to name her?" Eric asked._

_ "Scarlet. Her name will be Scarlet."_

_ "That's a beautiful name, honey. I like it."_

_ "She's going to be beautiful and intelligent," Janice said positively._

_ "I'm sure she will be, sweetie."_

* * *

><p>Scarlet Rory was a sixteen-year old girl, who took her looks from her father, with the darkest black hair a person could find and the lightest gray eyes a person could find.<p>

When her mother named her, she was right. Scarlet was beautiful and intelligent, but chose not to use her intelligence.

Seven years previous to now, her father, Eric, had gotten in a fatal accident. That was a turning point in Scarlet's life.

After that, Scarlet and her mother, Janice, moved away. Scarlet started hanging out with the wrong crowds; the ones that did drugs, broke the law and skipped school because they thought it was cool.

There was one boy, Chris, that Scarlet had dated, who was very emo, and got Scarlet into the habit of finding knives and cutting herself. Scarlet mostly continued now because it bothered her mom and her mom's new husband, Jack.

Scarlet hated Jack, mostly because he was her dad's friend, and her mom started going out with him just three months after her father's death.

"Scarlet!" her mom called, "Come here for a minute!"

Scarlet walked as slowly as she could to her small living room, where she would have to actually talk to people.

"What?" Scarlet asked, unconcerned of any feeling she might hurt because of her tone.

"Don't use that tone with your mother!" snapped Jack.

"Okay. Whatever," Scarlet said while examining her black nails.

"We need to talk to you about some things…" her mother said and looked at Jack.

"First of all," Jack started proudly, "when are you going to start using my last name? Your mother uses it and has no problem with it. Why can't you?"

"Uh, let me think," Scarlet pretended to think for a moment, and then said, "Oh yeah! Because it's not my last name. My last name is Rory."

"Now your last name is Jonson," Jack growled.

"How 'bout no?" Scarlet said with a smirk on her face. Jack's face had gone red in frustration, so Scarlet's mom chimed in.

"And Second, I have a small problem with the kind of friends you make…"

"What's wrong with them?"

"Scarlet, don't pretend not to know! Do I have to remind you about Kayla, or Dustin, or_ Desmond_?"

"No don't remind me…" Scarlet mumbled remembering all the wrong situations she had been stuck in.

"But thirdly…" Jack started and her mom smiled and finished for Jack, "we're moving away!"

"What!" blurted Scarlet.

"Yup! We're moving to a nice, big house on Elm Street. Isn't that exciting?"

"So… we're moving away again? We're moving away for the third time this year; I'm going to have to go to my fourth high school this year? Okay, how many calls did you guys get from the principal, announcing my expulsion or something?"

"Nothing's wrong, we just felt that this house was a little small. So we went looking around and found a house on Elm Street. So we bought it!"

"Lovely," Scarlet said sarcastically, "When are we leaving?"

"We are leaving on," Jack looked a calendar hanging in the corner and said, "Saturday."

Scarlet sighed. It was only Wednesday, which meant that she had only a few days to pack and make sure that her mom didn't steal any of her belongings again.

"Well, I'm gone," Scarlet said and whirled around, storming out of the room. She stormed into her room where she threw herself on her bed, laying on her back with her hands over her eyes.

Scarlet looked around her room. She looked at her dark green walls that had random posters taped up and cabinets and desks all around, hiding the lower half of the walls. She took a box off the piles of boxes she had in the corner and started throwing things in violently. Five minutes later, the box was full of a jumble of books (whether she had bought them or her mother) that she had found under her bed.

Scarlet pulled out a small, nicely crafted wooden box out from her bed. She opened it, not remembering how it had got so far under her bed, and took out the picture of her dad. She put it back in the box, then pulled a knife out from beside it and twirled it expertly. Grimly, Scarlet smiled and placed the knife back.

After the rest of the day of finding knives and small knick-knacks Scarlet went to bed and went to school the next day, just like normal.

The rest of the week went by too fast for Scarlet's liking. It seemed like only hours from when she found out she was moving until she was sitting in the passenger seat of Jack's car with her head on the window, trying to hide the tears in her eyes. Saying goodbye to all her friends was the hardest. Her gang of friends promised to come visit her, but when Scarlet told her mom that they were going to visit, she told her that Elm Street was too far a way for a group of teens to go.

Elm Street didn't seem that far away. It was only a twenty minute drive from where they had previously lived. They drove past the near-by high school, which was fairly large, and Scarlet saw a couple cars in the parking lot. None of the cars were very expensive-looking, so Scarlet figured that the people who lived in this area weren't extremely rich.

"Nice lookin' neighbourhood, isn't it Scarlet?" Jack said, trying to make conversation.

"No, shut up," Scarlet snapped. There was no more talking to Scarlet after that, only some whispering between her mom and Jack.

Scarlet took in all her surroundings. The houses here were big and did look nice, but Scarlet had a strange feeling about this place.

Scarlet sighed as their car passed the street sign addressing the entrance to Elm Street.


	2. Chapter 2

Scarlet had to admit, the house was pretty nice. It was big and white, with green shingles. Jack pointed out that it needed a few simple renovations, but other than that, this house was in pretty good shape.

Scarlet had instantly taken a room upstairs, with the windows facing the other side of the street, where she could practically see into the neighbour's house.

Jack brought in all of Scarlet's things and she closed her door behind him, hoping that he wouldn't come back knocking and hoping that because they were now in a new house there would be the perfect family.

Scarlet started unpacking her boxes, but couldn't shake the feeling that there wasn't something right about this house. She thought it was just the emptiness of the house, the drab walls, and the depressing fact that her mom and Jack were in the room down the hall. But Scarlet believed that there was more than just dire need of redecoration in this house.

_I just need to sleep here. It's always like this,_ Scarlet thought, but the thought didn't really convince her. It _wasn't_ always like this. She usually liked the idea of moving into a new place, where she could meet new people that pissed off her mom more than the other bunch. Although, Scarlet thought she would have to try hard this time, since her last group of friends trashed her living room while her mom and Jack were away and they came back to an empty and messy house. Scarlet sighed as she thought of that time and promised herself that she would invite them all over soon.

Eventually, all of her belongings were unpacked. The small wooden box with her father's picture on it was now sitting open on her nightstand, where she could see it all the time.

Scarlet sat on her bed and thought of the growing unnatural feeling she was getting. She got up and pocketed a knife, then exited her room, taking in every detail, every wrinkle in her bed, and every bookmarked book in her room in case her mom started snooping, then left to go outside.

On her way out, she stopped and looked in a mirror. She saw her face, which was strangely pale, and looked at her body in her baggy black jeans and blue sports shirt with the numbers 666 on the back. She thought that she looked almost normal, other than the paleness of her skin.

"I'm headed out," she called to anyone who heard her and she thought that if nobody heard, well that was okay too.

"Don't you want to spend _some_ family time with us in our new house?" her mom asked, sounding hurt, but Scarlet knew it was just the guilt trick.

"No, not really," she said casually, but she had a cold edge in her voice, and she bolted out the front door.

Scarlet walked around the neighbourhood, getting familiar with the rout to the high school and to the near-by convenience store. She passed a group of kids about her age in a back alley.

"You!" A blonde guy called and she stopped walking, turned, and rolled her eyes. The blonde kid jumped off the car he was sitting on and walked up to her. "I've never seen you around."

"I hope not," Scarlet replied.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa where do you think you're going right now? I'm talking to you!"

"I'm leaving, actually," Scarlet replied and turned away.

"No," the guy growled and stomped up to her, "When I'm talking to you, you are going to _stay right here and listen_!" He snarled, hands balled in fists and his jaw set. Scarlet slipped a hand in her pocket and brought out her knife.

"Okay, I suppose so, but don't get your panties in a bunch," she said sarcastically, but in a more serious manor she continued, "And unless you want to feel some sort of pain today, I really hope you would let me go…" she pointed her knife at him. The guy laughed and put his hand on the blade of her knife, lowering it.

"What's your name?" he asked, flashing a small, sideways smile.

"Alright…" she took a deep breath and continued, "I'm Scarlet. What's your name?"

"My name's Cory. Over there's Jolene," he pointed to a very blonde girl, who was clicking her gum, and gave them a curt nod, "and then there's Stephen," he pointed to a kid with black hair, the kind of hair that guys like to flip, and he waved.

"So where did you move in?" Jolene asked, "Didn't move into 1428 Elm, did you?"

"Yeah… why is there something wrong?" she wondered as she pocketed her knife.

"Well," Stephen started, standing behind her with his head very close to hers; his voice nearly a whisper, he continued, "awful things had happened there. Families who live there die. But the strange part is… it's only the teenagers who die. The _really_ strange part is, though, that they all die from identical scratch marks, like from razors or knives."

"Ha ha," Scarlet sneered, "that's just bull crap. You guys are just trying to scare me. Well it's not working!"

"Come on," Cory said, beckoning for Scarlet to follow him, "we'll walk you back to your place. To be honest, that place always gave me the creeps, but maybe it just needed people in it."

They four of them walked in silence for a while, until Scarlet jumped up in excitement.

"You want to meet my mom? Don't worry, she hates the people I usually hang with, and I'm not very fond of my mom and her husband, so if she sees you, she's going to be _pissed_."

"Okey dokey," Jolene said, "Don't worry, I always hated my mom. She was a B-I-T-C-H. Thank God she got tired of me and moved." Scarlet laughed with Jolene for a while, then they were all back to walking in silence.

"So, you go to the school just over here?" Cory asked curiously.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure my mom enrolled me there. So I take it you guys go there too?" Scarlet replied. They did go there, so they spent the rest of the walk talking about how great and fun the school was when they all stuck together and hung out. They nearly gave Jack and Scarlet's mom heart attacks when they saw the trio that she came home with.

Scarlet spent the rest of the day in her room, trying to get used to it. She couldn't forget the story that Stephen whispered in her ear. Eventually, Scarlet decided to try and sleep, which was quite a struggle.

But falling asleep wasn't as much of a struggle as it was waking up.


	3. Chapter 3

_ Scarlet walked around the dark boiler room._

_ "This is so trippy!" her dream-self laughed, but she really felt scared. This had started out like no dream that she had ever had before, and she had a feeling that it would end that way too. But this dream was something different. It almost seemed _real_! Scarlet tried to shake the feeling, but couldn't block out the sound of heaving breathing coming from the background or the feeling of being watched._

_ Scarlet walked into a corner. Laughing, she backed out and then suddenly covered her ears as an unbearable, high pitched screech filled the room._

_ "Christ! What was that?"_

_ "It wasn't Christ," A deep voice said._

_ "H-h-hello?" Scarlet called. _Damn it Scarlet_, she thought, _you've seen to many scary movies_! Then she thought, _Wait! I'm Scarlet, the emo! _Scarlet put a hand down her shirt and brought out a handy knife that she always kept in her bra. "If anyone is there," she called nervously, "I have a weapon!" _But so do they_, she thought. _

_ "Oh God, God, God help me, somebody, _please_!" she called out. Scarlet ran away frantically running a hand through her hair. _

_ All of a sudden, she stopped cold when she caught a glimpse of the burnt man in a Christmas sweater with knives on his fingers. Scarlet could basically see the devil clinging to his soul. Surprised, Scarlet stepped forward because the man had walked away._

_ "What?" she said in a high voice. She screamed as something cold and metal ripped through the flesh on her back. She turned quickly on her heels to see the burnt man, with the Christmas sweater, (only noticing for the first time) the hat, and the knives on his fingers. _

_ Distantly she heard, "_Scarlet wake up!_" She wanted to obey the voice so badly! _

_ She heard, "_Scarlet wake up!_" a bit louder now and fell to her knees._

* * *

><p>"Scarlet wake up!" Janice cried, shaking her daughter. "Jack, do something!" she screamed. Jack stood in the doorway, looking at his feet.<p>

Janice breathed a sigh of relief when her Scarlet's eyes fluttered open.

"Scarlet!" her mom cried and tried to giver Scarlet a hug but Scarlet's weak arm lightly pushed her back and she muttered, "My back…"

She whirled Scarlet around and gasped when she saw her daughters back. The flesh was torn by four equal scratch marks that were bleeding severely. Unwilling tears rolled down Janice's face and she looked over to Jack, who looked from a cross between deathly pale to sickly green.

"Jack, we need to get her to a hospital. Call an ambulance!" Jack nodded and rushed out of the room. Within minutes, an ambulance was screaming up the street, drawing neighbours to windows, scaring birds out of trees, and (in Scarlet's case) receiving a passenger.

Now blaring down the street in the opposite direction, the ambulance and its passengers rode away.

* * *

><p>Scarlet woke up to a room full of people. The first person she saw was Cory, then Jolene and Stephen standing side-by-side behind him. She looked to the other side of her bed, where her mom and Jack were watching. Her mom's face was tear-stained and lines creased her brow.<p>

"What happened?" Scarlet asked all of a sudden, her voice sounding surprisingly strong.

"Scarlet, sweetie," her mom started, but Jack interrupted and snarled, "You cut your back too many times and you nearly bled to death Scarlet!"

"I… I can't cut my back. Look," Scarlet sat up, ignoring the instant wave of dizziness that threatened to throw her mind into unconsciousness, and tried to reach up her back. Her hand barely touched the bandages that wrapped around her torso.

"Jack how could you say that?" Scarlet's mom said quietly but Jack retorted, "I can say that because it's the truth."

"Leave me alone," Scarlet requested, "I want to talk to them," she pointed to the three teens that stood awkwardly in the corner of the room, witnessing a family disagreement.

After her mom and Jack left the room, Scarlet said, "Guys, I never cut myself I swear."

Jolene nodded sadly, and Cory said, "Yeah we know."

"Why are you guys here?"

"We wanted to come see if you were going to be alright. We're your friends."

"So, you guys believe that I didn't do this to myself?" Scarlet asked them, making sure that that was true.

"Yeah," Stephen confirmed, but them a hard look fell upon his face and he continued, "What did happen though?"

Scarlet went into detail about her dream. At certain parts where she described the burnt man, Jolene looked like she would have cried or hidden from the mental images she was getting; or both.

"That must have been so painful, Scarlet!" Jolene cried and threw herself on Scarlet in a tight hug.

"Seriously, that dream must have been so intense," Cory said with a distant look in his eye.

"I was just wondering," Scarlet said curiously, "if any of you actually live _on _Elm Street?" The three teens shook their heads and confirmed that they only lived around the area, not actually on Elm Street.

"Oh and the doctors say you can get out of here tomorrow night, so you can still come to school on Monday," Jolene chimed.

"Great," Scarlet replied sarcastically, but really was excited.

The next day went by very fast for Scarlet. When she was released, the doctor instructed her to keep her bandages on and eventually she would have to change them, but Scarlet only heard 'blah blah blah'. Her mom was listening, so she chose not to worry about anything she was sayings.

Scarlet couldn't wait to get home, though. She was so tired of sitting in that hospital bed, never having any good rest, just light, dreamless sleep where she could still vaguely here the doctor telling her mom 'Of course she's going to wake up, Mrs. Jonson, they always do' or 'Don't worry, it's going to stop bleeding eventually."

Scarlet had never felt happier than when she left the hospital. She was actually allowed to walk, not just be wheeled out in a wheelchair. Other than the bandages, Scarlet was perfectly healthy.

Scarlet was overlooking the nightmare she had, thinking that it was just a dream. Scarlet had always believed those theories that if you get a scratch in your dreams, you get a scratch in real life; if you die in your dreams and don't wake up instantly, you die in real life.

The air in Jack's car was awkward and everybody felt like saying something to break the silence. Scarlet's mom would sometimes hum along to a couple words of a song that played on the radio, or Jack would ask what time it was, but Scarlet remained silent, hoping that any conversation that started wouldn't involve her in any way.

Finally they were walking through the front doors of 1428 Elm Street. To Scarlet, it felt as if a huge weight had been dropped onto her shoulders from the roof, or from heaven, or perhaps it was the demon in her dreams jumping on her to try to claim her life, Scarlet didn't know, but she thought for now, she was going up to her room, the room with the bars on the windows, and just sit and maybe send and e-mail to an old friend. Yeah, that was exactly what she needed to do.

Scarlet raced up to her room and started up her computer. She opened her e-mail and clicked on the contact name 'Elisa Burrows,' one of her old friends.

Scarlet placed her hands on her face, leaned back in her chair, and the started to type. Scarlet went into detail about her dream and she invited Elisa over, and told her to bring another one of her old friends, Scott.

Ten minutes later, Scarlet found a new message in her inbox from Elisa, saying she would be glad to come over and 'Of course I'll bring Scott!'

Scarlet sat in her room, lights out, mistaking the growing feeling of nervousness for excitement.


	4. Chapter 4

"Scarlet! Can you tell me the answer to this equation?" Scarlet's teacher screamed.

"Nope," Scarlet replied simply. Jolene, Stephen, and Cory snickered in the back of the class, behind Scarlet. Jolene, Stephen, and Cory sat in a row behind Scarlet, where she listened to every word they were saying, every insult they threw at the teacher, and every dirty-minded statement they could think of.

"Why not?" The teacher asked, as if Scarlet really knew they answer to why she was so lost.

"I dunno… I don't really understand. What are you supposed to do?"

"Scarlet," he teacher sighed, "I just finished explaining it!"

"I just finished not listening to it…" Scarlet muttered, but her teacher heard her.

"Was there something you just said? If so, the class would really like to hear it," the teacher taunted. Scarlet knew teachers. If she just whispered an embarrassed 'No', then they got the satisfaction they wanted.

Scarlet could feel all the eyes of the class on her, so she raised her head off her arm and said, "The thing I just said was: I just finished not listening to you explain it."

Some of the students in her class gasped. Jolene, Stephen, and Cory howled with laughter in the back of the class.

"That was unnecessary! Get out!" Scarlet stood up, gave Stephen a high five, and strutted out of the classroom, proud of giving her teacher the opposite reaction of what she was expecting. Her teacher stepped outside the classroom a minute later, and in a quiet voice she asked, "Scarlet, is there something wrong?"

"No, just tired. I didn't go to sleep last night." _I was too afraid_, she thought, but didn't mention anything.

"Honestly, you high school kids think you can stay up all night and still stay in school!" her teacher ranted.

"I'm sorry, but I'm just one high school kid, and I have a reason for being up all night!" Scarlet said, taking on a defensive tone.

"And what is that reason?" her teacher asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow at her.

"That's my problem, thank you," Scarlet snarled, but her teacher thought otherwise.

"Well obviously it's not your problem if you feel the need to disrupt the class because of it!"

"No, I didn't disrupt the class. You did. Or at least, you asked me what the answer was, which caused me to disrupt the class," Scarlet said, sounding like a know-it-all.

"Get back in the class," growled her teacher and Scarlet ran in the class and flew to her seat, where she did rude imitations of the teacher to Jolene, Stephen, and Cory. They were shrieking with laughter. The teacher gave them an annoyed eye roll, and continued with the lesson.

The bell rang, and Scarlet raced home. She actually hadn't slept a wink for the whole week, scared that if she did, she would end up with more cuts to go along with the almost-healed ones on her back.

In half an hour, Elisa and Scott would be over here, and shortly after Jolene, Cory, and Stephen would be coming over too, but the only people staying the night would be Elisa and Scott, who would be staying for the weekend.

Scarlet was going up to her room, when she passed Jack in the kitchen. She stopped cold, even though he wasn't talking to her at all, just drinking some coffee.

"Hey Jack," she said in a cold and emotionless voice, "how are you doing? I hope you're doing fine…" Scarlet grinned nastily. Jack didn't say anything, so Scarlet stepped into the kitchen and leaned on one of the counters. "Some of my friends are coming over today, you know?" She continued, examining her nails, "You probably don't care, but I also don't care how you're doing, so it's a win-win situation…" Scarlet walked out of the room, leaving Jack behind with a confused look on his face. At the top of the staircase, she heard her mom asking, "Where did the knife I just had on the counter go?" The knife that had just been on the counter Scarlet was now twirling in her hands.

Scarlet kept walking into her room, where she hid her new knife in her dresser. Scarlet had the strange feeling that she would need to stock up on weapons for some reason…

Scarlet decided to put on some of her heavy metal music and have a small montage moment, until she heard the doorbell ring. Scarlet turned down her music and raced down the stairs. She threw open the door, letting it bang into the wall, and hugged her two friends standing on her doorstep.

Elisa still had her light brown hair, dark brown eyes, and pale skin. Scott still had his fiery red hair, but his skin was a little darker than she remembered. The three of them were grinning at each other. Scarlet hugged both of them, and showed them up to her room.

"Whoa, this is intense!" Scott said.

"You're room is so big!" Elisa said spinning and falling backwards on Scarlet's bed.

"I'm so glad you guys could make it. I'm not sure how much longer I could make it without sleeping…" Scarlet yawned, as if on cue, and the three of them started talking about her dream. The doorbell rang again.

This time, it was Jolene, Stephen, and Cory. Scarlet introduced everyone, and instantly they all were a group, connected by something stronger than just living near each other. It was like fate had wanted the six of them to meet and become a strong group.

They all hung out around the house, scaring Jack away from every room they were in, and Scarlet's mom threw disapproving glares at them, but greeted Elisa and Scott with a fake grin.

Eventually, by nine, Cory, Jolene, and Stephen said goodbye to everyone and it was now only Scarlet, Elisa, and Scott.

They still hung out like they normally did. By nine-thirty, Scarlet's mom 'suggested' that they go to bed. They blew off her suggestion by completely ignoring her, and continued talking.

It was only until Scarlet nearly passed out that the idea of actually sleeping crossed all of their minds.

Up in Scarlet's room, Scarlet slept on the normal side of her bed, Elisa slept with her head at the end, and Scott slept on the floor. Scarlet was only a little nervous about falling asleep, but she had a knife tucked into the waistband of her pants, just in case, and she eventually fell into a very uneasy sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

_Scarlet stood up from her bed, trying not to disturb the sleeping figures of Elisa and Scott. Instantly her hand flew to her waist, where she felt the satisfying bulk of the knife there. Just in case, she rummaged through a drawer on her nightstand and grabbed another knife and held it firmly in her hand._

_Scarlet walked around her house, passing her parent's bedroom quietly, and heading down the stairs. She stepped outside, where her neighbourhood was the same as always, but very dark._

_Heart pounding in her chest, Scarlet walked into a back alley that she always avoided. Scarlet didn't know where her feet were taking her, but she really wished they would stop moving right now so that she could go back home._

_By the time she reached the other end of the alley, she stopped dead. Scarlet wasn't alone anymore. She could feel another person's (Or was it a person?) presence at the entrance to the alley that she had came in. _

_Slowly, Scarlet turned on her heels to face the person at the other end of the alley._

"_H-h-hello?" she called to the person she recognized with barely any familiarity, not expecting an answer if it was the man who had terrorized her last time she had been asleep in 1428 Elm Street._

_He stretched his arm out and scraped his fingers against the metal fence that lined the alley, making an unbearable screeching. Scarlet covered her ears and shut her eyes, but that did barely and good. After a moment, the noise was gone. Scarlet opened her eyes and saw an empty alley with a few dumpsters and some trash on the ground._

_ She turned and ran away, turning every corner she could find, occasionally pinching her arm, trying to wake herself up._

_ Scarlet sat on a concrete slab with her head in her hands, thinking._

_ She didn't know what to do. She could just sit here and wait to be killed, or she could run, or she could run then wait to be killed. So many possibilities ran through her mind, each less sensible than the last._

_ Then she heard the infernal, high-pitched screeching noise. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere, so Scarlet got up and fled._

_ She was running and getting lost and turning around and running to eventually get lost again. Then she caught sight of the man following her. She veered to a different direction and he jumped out at her from behind a fence. Scarlet screamed and turned around to run away, but she froze and couldn't go anywhere._

_ Scarlet did some very fast thinking, and whirled back around on her heels, this time twirling the knife she had been carrying in her hand expertly, and jabbed it into the man wearing the Christmas sweater._

_ A thick green liquid covered the knife and Scarlet's hands. The man was laughing and he raised his arm to slash her. Scarlet was panicking, but she remembered the knife in her pants, so quickly she grabbed it, and cut the man's wrist open and ran, not waiting to see the outcome, and not looking back._

_ She had lost a knife, so Scarlet was tightly gripping the remaining one, trying to clean off the disgusting green substance that was covering the end of her knife and her hands._

_ "Wake up Scarlet!" she screamed and cut a thin line on her left palm. "Come on! Wake up!" During her fit, Scarlet couldn't hear the heavy breathing of the demon-man that didn't seem to feel pain. _

_ "Come on Scarlet, why won't you wake up?" Scarlet smacked her forehead with her hand, smearing blood on her face. Then she stopped and finally felt the presence of another person near her. She turned and her eyes widened in shock as she saw her father standing about eight feet away from her._

_ "Scarlet, honey, it's all going to be okay. I'm here now, nothing can hurt you," her dad said and Scarlet started to walk up to him._

_ "Dad, we have to get out of here," she cried, "The man is going to kill us!"_

_ Her dad started to say something, but then his eyes rolled back in his head and the tips of four razors poked through his neck. The razors were yanked out, and the figure of the man stepped out from behind her father's bloody figure. Scarlet looked from the man, to her father and his blood spurting wounds. _

_ "Who are you?" She screamed, tears pouring down her face. Scarlet didn't expect an answer and wasn't disappointed. She sank to her knees, letting the knife she was clenching fall to the ground beside her. Tears fell into her lap, and she felt cold steel tracing the side of her face._

_ The man moved the razors under her chin, tilting her head up to look at him. _His face will be the last thing I see before I die,_ Scarlet thought and the shocking realization of death was now so real that it was unreal in her mind._

_ Scarlet could see the knife she had stabbed into him still sticking out. Daringly, she reached up with intense speed, and pulled the knife out. A sick suction-like noise sounded as she pulled it out, but she didn't hear it because at that moment, when the man saw her move, he cut the right side of her face from her jaw to her cheek bone._

_ She held her face and scooped up both her knives. Then she scrambled up and ran away again, listening to the man laughing because this was only his cold game. All his victims ran and ran for as far as they could. Scarlet was playing right into his gloved hand._

* * *

><p>Elisa woke up because Scarlet seemed to be having an uneasy sleep. She looked at Scarlet who seemed to be twitching a little and muttering some desperate pleadings. Scott was still asleep on the floor.<p>

Scarlet struggled even more in her sleep, tossing and turning, her muttering turning into normal talking voice. Her voice started becoming a bit louder and she slashed at something in her sleep.

Elisa sprung up and pulled Scott up.

"Wuzhappenin'?" he mumbled and Elisa said, "You have to help me wake Scarlet! I don't know what's happening!"

Scott's eyes widened as he the struggle in her sleep and nodded furiously. He ran away, and Elisa was left in the room with a Scarlet who was having a very bad nightmare. Scott came back in the room a moment later carrying a water bottle. He splashed it on Scarlet's face and her eyes sprung open. She sat up, sobbing and tried telling her friends about her dream/nightmare. Elisa wiped her face with the back of her hand and was surprised to find that it was wet with tears.

The three of the sat there with each other for a while until Scarlet's mom and Jack burst in.

"Scarlet, your face!" her mom screamed and rushed over to her. Jack stood in her doorway, not talking, not moving, and almost seeming unconcerned.

Scarlet threw him a dirty look. Her friends noticed and they did the same. All three of their looks said the same thing: _You know something about this._


	6. Chapter 6

Scarlet had argued with her mom about going to a hospital again.

"I just came back form the hospital!" she cried and her argument was backed up by some agreements from her friends.

"Then your friends need to go home!" her mom insisted and Scarlet looked at her like she was growing an extra head out of her neck.

"_Mom! Are you kidding? _They are the ones who stopped this," she pointed to the scratch on her face, "from getting worse! I don't think they're leaving this weekend, anyways, even if you force them to!" Scarlet turned on her heels and stormed off with her friends following close behind her.

"Scarlet," Elisa hissed in her Scarlet's ear, "Where's Jack?"

"He's nowhere to be found," Scott pointed out, whispering in her other ear.

"I know," she muttered to both of them, "Let's go check out the basement." They went to the basement, looking for Jack. Scarlet only wanted to find him so that she knew where he was, not that he actually mattered to her, but so that she could keep a close eye on him. The trio jumped down the stairs and found Jack sitting on the old couch in the corner, looking far off.

"Hello, Jack," Scarlet greeted darkly.

"Hey Jack," Elisa chimed and Scott simply acknowledged him by nodding slowly and said, "Jack." Jack glared at the three of them, but raised a hand in a fail wave.

"We just, uh, wanted to see how you were doing all alone down here," Scarlet continued with an icy edge in her voice. She stepped down the rest of the stairs and looked at her nails casually and continued speaking, "So how are you then?"

Jack didn't answer, so Scott said, "You know, Mr. Jonson, that not answering questions when they are asked is very impolite. I," Scott pointed both hands in the middle of his chest, "would answer if I were you. But I'm not you, so it's your call."

"What do you want, Scarlet and friends?" Jack asked rudely, standing up.

"Scarlet, didn't you already say what you wanted," Elisa said sarcastically, "and according to me, you don't like to repeat yourself, do you?"

"No, you're right Elisa, repeating myself is my _least_ favourite thing to do. Well anyways Jack, it was nice talking to you." Scarlet gave a fake, cheerful wave and headed up the stairs with her friends following behind her. They headed up to her room and waited. They heard Jack coming up the stairs shortly after and said to Scarlet's mom, "Janice, something needs to be done about them! _Something needs to be done!_" Scarlet could imagine his face, deep red and spitting.

Scarlet and her friends bounced in her room, laughing. After a few minutes sitting in her room, not knowing what to do, the group consensus came down to finding Jolene, Stephen and Cory. They found them in the same place that Scarlet had first met them. They informed the others about Scarlet's dream last night (explaining the scratch on her face that had confused them from the start) and they all sat in silence.

"Is there a local library?" Scarlet asked at random. Elisa and Scott stared at her in bewilderment, because she had almost never been to a library before.

"Yeah, down the street. Why?" Cory answered.

"I want to see if there might be a story on Elm Street. Come on, let's find the library," Scarlet started walking down the alley and Cory took the lead, showing everyone to the library.

They spent a while at the library, just looking up random things about Elm Street, and then they went back to Scarlet's house. Scarlet and her friends stayed awake for the rest of the weekend, drinking as many caffeinated drinks as possible, waking each other up if they saw somebody dosing off. It was only until late Sunday afternoon that they fell asleep, all of them unwilling to. Scarlet was most afraid to sleep, but this time she was lucky; this time, the man wasn't targeting her…

* * *

><p><em>Scott saw the floor of Scarlet's room perfectly, he saw her bed perfectly and he saw her perfectly. He twisted his head and saw Elisa perfectly. He found that he needed to move, so he got up and walked downstairs.<em>

_ "Mrs. Jonson? Mr. Jonson?" he called. His own voice echoed back to him in a confused tone._

_ "Yep, we're here." He heard Mr. Jonson call back. Scott let out a sigh of relief at hearing another person's voice. He went back up the stairs, yawning and stretching, to go lay back down on Scarlet's floor and sleep, but when he got to Scarlet's room, both Scarlet and Elisa were gone._

_ "Guys? Where are you? Okay, you've had your laugh, well now I'm confused and you can come out!" _

_ Scott went back down the stairs and tried looking for the Jonson's again, but they were nowhere to be found either. He figured they were probably in the basement, and headed out the front door, seeing if he could maybe find his friends outside. Outside, it was dark and rainy, but Scott kept walking._

_ "Alright, guys, where are you!" he shouted furiously, "It's not funny!" Scott gave a small, hysterical jump and started running for it, For some reason, this neighbourhood was scaring him right now, and the fact that he thought his friends were angering him on purpose was making it worse._

_ Eventually, Scott saw the figure of a man standing not too far from him, so Scott walked up behind him and said, "Excuse me sir, I was wondering if-if you maybe saw a couple of teens by here about my age and stuff, I'm kind of looking for them…"_

_ The man turned slowly to face him and Scott's mouth opened in an almost-comical 'O'. The man standing before him was burnt as bad as possible, wearing burnt clothing and his skin was just as bad. But what really scared Scott was the glove on the man's hand. The glove with knives attached to it._

_ Scott fell backwards and tried to crab-walk away from the man who was advancing towards him._

_ "I can't say," the man confessed in a deep, gruff voice, "that I have seen them." He swung his hand at Scott and Scott rolled over onto his stomach. The man just barely missed him, and that gave Scott enough time to scramble up and run away._

_ Scott looked behind him and didn't see the man following him. He ran for a while, not looking ahead but everywhere else, and ran right into somebody. Scott looked up slowly, seeing the face of the dream-terrorist and tried to scream but the only thing that came out was a small, dry, whine. _

_ Scott turned to run away and ran into some trees._

_ He eventually came back to some roads and sat on the ground for a while, catching his breath. When Scott stood up again, he seemed all alone in the neighbourhood, without another soul in sight. Scott ran away, not wanting to stay in one place for too long, and again ran into the figure, but this time, Scott fell flat on his back. The wind was knocked out of him, so he lay on the ground for a minute but a minute was too long. The man lashed out at Scott and the blades cut deep into his stomach, ripping his flesh apart. _

_ His steaming blood spurted and spilled over his stomach and into his face. He spluttered in it, tasting the steely, disgusting taste and he put his head down on the ground but the man yanked it back up by the hair and pressed the flat side of his blade along his neck. _

_ "Please… please help me… please _kill_ me!" Scott moaned but the man let out a cold, cruel laugh and replied, "No, that would be too easy." Scott heard a girl screaming and thought briefly, _I wonder why she's so unhappy.

* * *

><p>Elisa was screaming. Tears were streaming down both Scarlet's and Elisa's faces. Scarlet's mom was on the phone and Jack seemed to have disappeared again. Scarlet's mom rushed back in and said, "I just called the ambulance and they'll be here right away!"<p>

Elisa gave out loud sobs as she witnessed the blood pouring all over the floor.

"We don't have a right away! Scott is dying!" Elisa screamed, but was barely understandable. Scarlet put her arms around her and Elisa hugged her back tightly, sobbing into her shoulder. Scarlet threw a dirty look at her mom, who had the world's guiltiest look on her face.

Seconds later, the ambulance came blaring down the street. As soon as they got Scott on a stretcher, they started performing some sort of medical procedures to stop his bleeding. Scott's eyes fluttered open for just a second, and then they rolled back into his head.

Scarlet's mom was on the phone again, this time with Scott's mom, and Scarlet heard wailing and sobbing on the other end, but there were no hateful comments. Scarlet's family and Scott's family both headed to the hospital.

They said that Scott would eventually be alright, but there would be very bad scarring. They had been at the hospital for a while and Scarlet and Elisa fell asleep in the corner. After a while Scarlet also called Jolene, Cory and Stephen to tell them what had happened and they got more sympathy from them than from anybody else.

Scarlet and Elisa stayed in the hospital for a while, but then Elisa's parents came also and when they left, Elisa had to go too. She wiped her eyes and said goodbye to Scarlet, promising that she would have Scarlet come over, just so that she could get some sleep.

Scarlet sat in the corner of Scott's room, not crying, not talking, and just looking distant and sad. Her mom tried to get her to leave so that Scott's parents could spend sometime with their son, but Scarlet refused to go and Scott's parents didn't mind.

Through all that, Scarlet was thinking, _who could be so cruel do to this?_


	7. Chapter 7

Scarlet was so shaken by Scott's "accident" that she almost paid attention in her classes the next day in school and that she barely said anything to any of her friends that day, but they didn't mind. They just stood by her, all of them looking shaken, and scowled at anyone who walked past with a smile on their face or was laughing.

"How- how's Elisa doing?" Jolene asked timidly after a few hours of silence in the back of a number of different classrooms.

"I don't know… I haven't really talked to her. I'm letting her get her sanity back for a while. She doesn't have to live on Elm Street…" Scarlet answered grimly. Jolene nodded patiently and Cory and Stephen just listened.

They sat in the back of another class (Scarlet couldn't remember which one; she wasn't paying attention anyways) and just looked around at each other, out the windows, even into the hallways.

"You four at the back!" the teacher (Scarlet couldn't remember what his name was) called, "Do any of _you_ know the answer?" The group of four at the back shook their heads, not shamefully but slowly and sadly.

"And why not?" the teacher asked. The four of them shrugged simultaneously. The teacher stormed down the aisle between the desks and stopped in front of Scarlet's, red faced and ready to give a few detentions. "What's wrong with you four? Don't just sit in the back of the class like a bunch of sad sacks! You usually make jokes all the time and now you're just sitting there like useless lumps so _what in the world is wrong with the four of you?_"

Scarlet looked at Jolene, who looked at Cory, who looked at Stephen because Stephen was more of a public speaker.

"I'm sorry sir," Stephen started politely, "but the four of us have a friend who was very seriously injured yesterday and it just so happened to have taken place in Scarlet's house. We're all a little bit shaken. So if you would excuse us for just _one class_," Stephen's tone was taking on a more impolite tone now, "we will be very happy to make some rude comments and jokes in a day or two." Stephen stood up to face his teacher. Stephen was a little taller, but Stephen was also lowered down to about his teachers' height because he was leaning on his desk. "Do you have a problem, sir?" Stephen asked smoothly.

"Yes I do!" the teacher spat, "Now you sit down, and the rest of you," he pointed an accusing finger at the other three, "_start working_."

"I'm sorry," Scarlet piped up, "but I'm very tired. I can't really work today because I was up all night _trying to get the bloodstains out of my carpet! You're welcome to come over to my house any time you want to get them out for me!_"

That comment shut her teacher up and he stormed back to the front of his class, finishing the rest of his lesson angrily. The rest of the day went by just as slow as the morning. When the bell rang, people filed out of their last class, heading to their lockers to get home so that they could eat and go out to see some of their friends. Scarlet envied them for still being able to laugh with their friends. Tears welled in her eyes, but she forced herself to not let a single tear spill onto her face.

Her friends stopped by her locker on the way to theirs and patted her on the shoulder and whispered comforting words into her ears.

"Don't worry about what our teachers think," Stephen said warmly after Jolene and Cory walked away, "they are the most misunderstanding bunch of asses this world could put together and life just dumped them on us here to make life away from home hell." Scarlet looked at Stephen and he winked at her. "Just don't worry. The three of us will always be here." Stephen walked away, leaving Scarlet in an empty hallway.

Scarlet headed towards the doors to her evening freedom a moment later, passing the staffroom as she went. Inside, she was positive she heard the teacher who had put on the little scene earlier say to some of the other teachers, "The four of them are the biggest bunch of potential drop-outs I've ever seen. I'm surprised any of them had made it this far." Scarlet continued walking and bounded through the doors, now letting the tears she'd been holding in for hours flow freely down her cheeks, but only for a moment.

Halfway home she passed the library and was torn between going in the library to see some of their documents on Elm Street or just to go home. After a moment of silent debate, Scarlet walked into the front doors of the library. There was nobody there, only Scarlet and probably the librarian. Scarlet headed towards the computers because even though she had her own, Scarlet had no doubt that her mom and Jack had been looking at all the documents on her computer, all messages sent, and even all picture on there. So Scarlet thought that the library was the most private place to be. And if she didn't come home for a couple of hours or even for the night, Jack wouldn't worry and she figured her mom would only worry if she found out that Scarlet was killed or missing.

Scarlet settled on one of the computers in the corner, surrounded by the rest of the table and a tall book shelf. Scarlet opened the internet browser and was unhappy that it wasn't her preferred browser, but didn't want to start any three-hour downloads, so she typed 'Elm Street' and got millions of results, starting with Elm Street School, Elm Street School District and Elm Street Bakery. Further down the page was 'Elm Street Real-Estate, Ontario'. Scarlet couldn't find anything, not even real-estate, for the Elm Street located in Springwood.

Hours went by and Scarlet snuck out the lunch she hadn't been able to eat at lunch time and secretly ate that in the corner, while still engaged in the internet.

Scarlet looked at the clock in the corner and was surprised to see that it was now six thirty; she had gotten out of school almost three hours ago and she hadn't found anything that had to do with _her_ Elm Street.

An hour later, Scarlet found the worlds smallest light in this dark tunnel. After seventy-four pages of uninteresting results, Scarlet finally got, 'Springwood, Elm Street, murderer on Elm Street." Scarlet clicked on the link and found an old news article that dated back not even fifteen years before now.

ELM STREET MURDERER! The page was titled, and Scarlet leaned close to the screen, reading as if it was a good story. 'Children murdered on Elm Street' was the subtitle. The rest of the article read:

In Springwood, Elm Street, the children from five years old to sixteen years old have been going missing and are found dead with razor-like marks on them…

The rest of the article was about how devastated the parents were and how the police were putting on a full-force investigation. The next article further down the page read:

ELM STREET MURDERER: CAUGHT! Freddy Krueger was jailed for Murder of Children!

A man named Freddy Krueger was just like everybody else in the world, except this man was more twisted than you could imagine. With brutal home-made weapons, Freddy Krueger killed many children living on Elm Street, leaving authorities and parents perplexed and devastated for years.

Scarlet read the details about Freddy Krueger, and after five more minutes of intense reading, the page Scarlet was reading came to an end. Quickly, Scarlet went back to the search engine screen and typed in 'Freddy Krueger'. Now, more results showed, some of them unrelated to her Elm Street killings, but others were exactly what she was looking for. Scarlet went onto one website that explained the story of Freddy Krueger, but wasn't very informative. She tried multiple websites for a few more minutes, and then she found one website that showed what she had already read and then some.

Another old newspaper article filled the screen, this time reading:

FREDDY KRUEGER, ELM STREET MURDERER SET FREE? After weeks in jail, the murderer of Elm Street was set free.

Freddy Krueger landed himself in jail after killing a number of children on Elm Street, in the sleepy town of Springwood. He stayed in jail for weeks, but then found a legal loophole and an accident in the papers sentencing him to his life of punishment, and as soon as he had gotten himself in jail, he had gotten himself out.

Scarlet looked at the screen in disbelief. This murderer; this _child murdered_ had gotten free! Scarlet read another article and it didn't surprise her at all:

SPRINGWOOD PARENTS ENRAGED! The murderer on Elm Street, Springwood, was burned to death in a fire, caused by Elm Street parents.

The parents of Elm Street were full of rage when they found out the murderer of their families and their families' children had gotten out of his life sentence in prison. We all go a little crazy sometimes, but these parents had all simultaneously gone insane when they trapped the murderer and set him on fire, eventually killing Freddy Krueger.

Scarlet read the next article, which was a few years newer than the rest:

CHILDREN ON ELM STREET, SPRINGWOOD, GOING CRAZY! Children on Elm Street, Springwood, Dying or getting sent to Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital!

The children on Elm Street don't know their home's horrific past, but then how do they know the name of Freddy Krueger of that unmistakeable glove? Parents are devastated that their children are going insane, but the children believe he's trying to kill them in their sleep.

_It's not just me! I'm not going crazy!_ Scarlet thought joyfully, but then remembered the traumatic events that these children had been involved with and nearly none of them made it out alive. Some of them tried to stay up for as long as possible and it resulted in failing/falling asleep in school, and the mistrust of parents.

Scarlet got up, carried her books out and said goodbye to the librarian. One of the lights went out above them, and the librarian cursed and walked away, scowling.

Scarlet arrived at home and didn't get any greetings from Jack or her mother and Scarlet didn't say anything to either of them. She needed to do a number of things. One of those things was getting ready for the uneasy sleep she's going to have tonight, because the blackness of sleep was already webbing her eyesight. Another thing she had to do was not let Jack or her mother (mostly Jack) know that she knew the horrors, the _secrets_, of this street.


	8. Chapter 8

Cory would never have fallen asleep in Elm Street after what had happened, but sometimes you just couldn't help it, especially if you were just hit on the head by a particularly hard object.

So now, the unconscious figure of Cory was sprawled out somewhere on the edge of Elm Street, drooling on the ground. People walked past and didn't do anything because this was _Cory_. He looked like a bad kid.

Cory had gone to see Scarlet (but she wasn't home anyways) and then somebody thought it was funny to knock him out. Ha, ha. People were so hateful. Nobody paid any attention to the boy who was on the ground, twitching and moaning in pain and fear, then eventually bleeding heavily from slash marks forming around his body.

His eyes shot open and he looked at the crowd around him that were probably hoping to see some demonic possession like on reality television shows. There were no cameras, no microphones and no fucking TV show hosts. Only Cory, dying on the edge of Elm Street.

"Cory! No!" a devastated girl shouted.

Cory was not even a quarter of the way awake, and the girls scream did nothing to wake him even further. Another razor-like mark materialized on him, this time across his neck and there were no more jerking movements from the boy, no more shrieks of pain and anguish. Just silence. Some of the people gathered around him noticed that there was a loss of life and they cried, "Call an ambulance!" Others looked horrified and ran away with guilty expressions on their faces. A highly religious man made the sign of the cross in the air before the boy and whispered a quick blessing, but none of the blessings helped bring the light of life into the boy's eyes.

The crowd thinned, and the only person that was left was Scarlet. She cried and sobbed over Cory's body. She saw the police and ambulances pull up on the street and almost had to be dragged away from his body. From all the commotion, Stephen and Jolene had made it there too. Both were crying equally hard and holding each other. Jolene made a tearful gesture for Scarlet to join the group hug and she did gladly, hoping that they wouldn't die on this street too. One friend dead, another in hospital, and one more scared to ever see her best friend again. What a life.

Scarlet received a hasty tap on the shoulder and she turned around to see three innocent looking boys there a little older than she was. One was holding a baseball bat, but looked like he resumed holding it with all of his will power, as if it were the most disgusting thing he had ever seen in his life.

The one that tapped her shoulder looked down at his feet and said in a thick voice, "All we did was, uh, bash 'im on the head. We didn't cut 'im…" Scarlet looked at this person with the most fury and hate that she had ever felt.

"_You? You did that to Cory? You bastards! I will kill you all!_" With lightning reflexes, Scarlet pulled out a knife and pointed it at the person. He backed off and tried to defend himself, saying, "I said we didn't cut 'im. I swear!"

Scarlet was in a stance where she could have lunged forward at any moment and her knife would have explored the wonders of the person's insides, and there was nothing that she would rather do more, but Jolene held Scarlet back and Stephen plucked the knife from her hand. Jolene let go, both of them knowing that Scarlet carried at least three knives on her at all times. The three boys ran away from Scarlet, but Scarlet was pretty fast. The one carrying the baseball bat dropped it, hoping that Scarlet would trip on it. Instead she turned around and walked slowly and coolly back to her friends.

As she was walking, her friends came towards her to meet her. The trio of boys that caused the death or Cory (more or less) were screaming swears at Scarlet and her friends, but they paid little attention.

All she muttered to her friends was, "It was Freddy."

* * *

><p>They resided at Jolene's house, where they got so much sympathy (and candy) it was almost criminal. But the candy didn't bring back Cory. They were awaiting news on Cory from the hospital, who had contact with Cory's parents. As it happened, Cory's parents were sitting right across from Scarlet in Jolene's living room, sobbing and crying with one another. Cory was their only son.<p>

After they had finished drinking large mugs of tea ("It will help the nerves," Jolene's mom promised), the three teenagers went into Jolene's room so that Scarlet could explain what she had saw at the library earlier that day. She took about ten minutes to explain the important factors of what she saw on Elm Street and her friends looked at her, horrified.

"So we're not the only ones? Other children have experienced this Freddy Krueger character as well?" Stephen asked. Scarlet nodded and Jolene just tried to take in all of this. They all sat in silence, trying to make sense of how to live through the reign of Freddy Krueger when Jolene's mom called, "Kids, we just got news."

The three of them bustled into the living room again, where Cory's mom was sobbing her heart out. "Here you go, Barbara," Jolene's mom said, giving Cory's mom a box of tissue. Jolene's mom looked pale and said, "Kids, the hospital just called and claimed that Cory is, for sure, not living in this world anymore…" Jolene gave out a desperate cry, buried her face in her hands and rushed away. "The boys with the baseball bat were fined for assault," Jolene's mom continued, her voice growing quiet. Jolene's sobs were heard down the hall, and Stephen went to go comfort her. Scarlet looked at the people she stood before in tragic disbelief, and rushed away to see Stephen and Jolene. After a few tearful minutes, Scarlet went home to tell her mother that one of her only friends was killed today, on the street her mother thought would have been perfect to live on.

Her mother wasn't home, but to Scarlet's distaste, Jack was.

"Where have you been?" he asked, obviously not worried.

"I've been witnessing my friends' death, you moron!"

"That's unfortunate," he said unsympathetically, then continued, "You should have at least checked with us before you stayed out."

"Fuck you," Scarlet whispered. Jack heard and asked, "What did you say?" Obviously expecting her to back down and say 'I didn't say anything,' Scarlet surprised him by saying, "I said 'Fuck you.'"

She hid up in her room, ignoring the screams of rage that emitted from Jack, and laid back on her bed. Freddy was playing rough. But she was Scarlet Rory, and she knew how to play rough too. At least she thought she did.

* * *

><p><strong>I happen to include knives a lot in my FanFictions because I like knives… <strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Just so you know, I'm writing based on the original Nightmare on Elm Street, so any problems you may have had with the timeline were probably due to that.**

* * *

><p>Scarlet's mom, after hearing about the incident, allowed her to stay home from school for a few days, despite Jack's protests.<p>

Her friends weren't so lucky, but she saw them every day anyways, once the school bell rang and all the teenagers were free.

But today, Scarlet didn't go out. It was too bright and sunny for her liking- too_ happy_.

So instead she just put on some music, but to her dislike a song called 'Nightmare' came on and she didn't like hearing about a subject in a song that reflected her life so much.

Scarlet stopped the music, and ran a hand through her hair. People were _dying_. There was absolutely nothing she could do about it. It made Scarlet feel completely helpless. A stern expression came upon her face and she said aloud, "No. I will not be helpless." Her brow creased as she thought long and hard about what to do.

In her mind, she worked out being helpless:

Helpless= being alone. Having friends= getting friends killed, then being alone.

"Damn!" Scarlet spat. She knew that this was probably what all the other victims went through. Their friends die. They're utterly alone. And then what? Did any of them actually resolve their problems?

Scarlet looked at the clock. Now it was only lunch, but she was nowhere near hungry. No, Scarlet was tired. She examined herself in a mirror, seeing her eyes surrounded by black circles made her resemble some sort of demon child, and Scarlet chuckled under her breath.

A few minutes of scattered thoughts went by, and sleep seemed to welcome Scarlet with open arms. She was very close to embracing it, but she was terrified at sleeping while home alone.

She didn't _want_ to die. The only question Scarlet had on her mind was: was she _meant_ to die? Maybe Freddy was here to get rid of those people whose lives weren't going to be very long anyways. For all she knew, she could get in a terrible gang fight and die then and there. What if Freddy was an omen from heaven (or hell) sent to judge the living? He could have been there to get rid of the potential threats for mankind in the future.

Scarlet wrote down some of these ideas, but at the top of her list in bolded black letters was: **Cold Hard Killer.**

"Mr. Krueger," Scarlet whispered in a devious tone, "You and I aren't getting off to a good start."

Scarlet's eyes widened. A brainwave had just hit her, and it hit her hard.

_Maybe,_ she thought, _maybe I just have to appeal to him. I'll use my fancy knife skills and impress him. Who knows, this _might_ just work out!_

Scarlet took the picture of her father in her hands.

"This wouldn't be happening if you were here, dad," Scarlet muttered, her voice thick with tears. Salty tears fell down her cheeks and a few fell on the old photo, and Scarlet made sure that the photo wouldn't ruin from her tears. Scarlet knew it was because her vision was blurred, but she could swear that the smiling picture of her father wasn't smiling merrily anymore, but more like he was grimacing.

At that moment, Jack came through the front door and Scarlet hurried to compose herself.

"Scarlet!" he barked. "Scarlet, go get your homework from school. But stay away from those _people_," Jack said the word 'people' with so much venom that it would discourage a cobra from striking.

"Yes sir," Scarlet spieled, and headed past Jack and out the door being careful to hide her face in case it was still puffy from her small emotional moment.

"Please Scarlet," Jack grabbed Scarlet's arm and turned her to face him, "Please be more respectful while your mother is around. I don't care how you are when it's just me, but for your mothers sake, please have a better attitude."

Scarlet made her way down to the school, kicking a lone pebble halfway there, when she ran into Stephen.

"Hey," he said nonchalantly. His face was pale, except for the dark circles under his eyes not unlike her own.

"Hey."

"I brought your homework." Stephen held out some textbooks, and Scarlet took them.

"Where's Jolene?"

"She went home sick today. I was going to go visit her after dropping those things off for you. Would you care to join me?"

"Well, if she's sick we shouldn't overwhelm her-"

"No, she's just been very depressed these past days. Even more than the both of us combined. She won't eat, won't sleep, won't talk. Cory was like her brother. They were very close."

"When is- when is the funeral for- for Cory?" Scarlet choked.

"This weekend I think. It's just going to be a small one, close friends and relatives."

The rest of the silence to Jolene's was awkward, and Scarlet was glad to see the surprised but sill nonetheless pleased expression when Jolene saw the two of them walk through her front door.

Scarlet stayed for an hour but then insisted that she had to go, and hurried home. It was getting dark from storm clouds, and regardless of whether or not she was dreaming, she didn't like being outside in the dark.

"Hello!" Scarlet called when she walked in the front door.

Jack looked up from what he was doing in the kitchen, seemed uninterested in Scarlet's arrival, and continued doing what it was he was doing.

"Where's mom?"

"Not home yet."

"Good," Scarlet replied grimly, and plopped down onto a chair beside Jack. "I need to ask you some questions."

Jack looked up at her, bewildered, but nodded to tell her to go on.

"Alright, question one: what to you know about Mr. Freddy Krueger?"

Jack's face flushed and he just about fell back in his chair. It was obvious that he knew something important, but instead of answering all he said was, "No. I don't know why you know him but I've never heard of the guy."

"He tried to kill me in my dreams, Jack!" Scarlet insisted, but Jack only shook his head. "Please, Jack…"

"Alright," Jack sighed, "Freddy Krueger was an old acquaintance of mine. We stopped coming in contact when I found out he was a murderer. I brought you here to see if he was still somehow murdering. And he is, I suppose."

A shocked gasp came from behind them and both of them whirled around to see Scarlet's mother standing there, eyes wide and mouth gaping.

"You brought us here... you brought my _daughter _here... to kill her? Jack how could you?" She stormed out of the room, hair flowing behind her. Jack followed, his face screwed up while trying to come up with an excuse to what this woman just heard.

Shouting. That was all Scarlet heard. She couldn't make out any distinct words. She heard her mother say, "I don't believe you!" many times, but that was all.

One remark (Scarlet didn't hear it then but remembered it later) stuck with her, and it was her mother saying in almost hushed tones, "How could you tell her that? After all had happened in her life, after all the death? How could you do that to someone who looked so much like _him_, so much like your friend, and my husband?"

Jack wasn't thinking when he said this and all of them knew it, but it still shocked everyone. "I don't like your daughter." His tone was plain and there was no hidden meaning behind his words. "I don't like her _at all_."

* * *

><p><strong>I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in so long, so if I disappointed anyone I sincerely apologize. Thank you for the great reviews though, and have a nice day.<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

Scarlet spent the next day and a half curled up in a ball on her bed. Her mother called the police about Jack, and instead of sending a cruiser to come and take him away they sent an ambulance to take _her_ away.

Jack didn't even know that would be the outcome, and he sat in their basement draining the local liquor store's stocks of wine.

Scarlet got up for the first time in hours, stretched and heard a series of satisfying pops coming from her back.

She made her way to the basement, with her hair in a mess and her clothes wrinkled.

"Jack…" she said groggily.

"Wha?" Scarlet heard his drunken reply from the bowels of the basement.

"You have to stop."

"Stop wha?" Another drunken reply.

Scarlet turned on a light and spotted Jack surrounded by wine bottles. He was just about hissing at being exposed to any light. Scarlet sat next to him and took his wine bottle.

"You need to stop," Scarlet repeated. She confiscated his current bottle and poured the remaining liquid on the ground where it would go for hours without given even a slight consideration.

"Your mother isn't going to approve of you wrecking the floor," Jack said, but Scarlet only shrugged.

"Ma's not here. And anyways, the floor is concrete."

"She isn't going to be happy. You know, she's always been afraid of you starting to drink and do drugs and stuff."

"The only drug I have is this one." Scarlet pulled out a knife and held the blade in front of her face. She lowered it to her arm and with a quick and graceful slash, her flesh tore and warm blood spilled over her arm. "It doesn't even hurt anymore."

"One day you're going to die from that."

"No I'm not. Sober up, 'kay Jack?" Scarlet made her way up the stairs, trying to stop the flow of blood. Successful, she went to the bathroom and cleaned it up.

Scarlet went outside and went walking for hours (or maybe only minutes, but she wasn't paying attention to the time) and came across a small playground. She sat on one of the swings, recollecting her dreams of Freddy.

Little children were hasty to enter the park when they saw the dark haired girl with a blood-stained bandage on her otherwise fair skinned arm. Parents ushered their children away when they got too close. Scarlet felt like she had the plague. And that was alright.

Stephen walked into the playground from behind her and sat on the swing next to hers. Now children didn't even go near the entire swing set.

"Heard about your mom," he said. Neither of them made eye contact, so he could have been talking to the ground.

"Yeah."

"I'm really sorry. There's so much in your life. You need something good to happen. You're such a great person that there's no way you deserve this."

"I know."

"Are you going to Cory's funeral tomorrow?"

Scarlet shrugged, staring at a small clear sand grain.

"Come with me. Jolene's going. We all need each other."

Scarlet nodded and looked up to see Stephen staring into traffic, watching the cars go past with such speed.

Stephen got up, stood in front of her and extended his hand.

"Come," he said. Scarlet took his hand and they walked out of the playground. Behind them they could almost hear the sighs of relief coming from the parents.

"Stay off of Elm Street today. Don't go back. Come with me. You can't be dying the day before a funeral you know."

"I have to get my knives," Scarlet said. "Come with me."

It was really only a few minutes of walking before they stood before 1428 Elm Street. Scarlet dragged Stephen in. She collected all her knives, putting one in her bra, a few in the waistband of her jeans, and one in her pocket.

"Well now that you're armed to the teeth, let's head back to my place," Stephen said with a small grin.

They walked to his house and went to his room in the basement. The walls were a warm gray and his unmade bed matched. There were three bookshelves full of large books, and his open closet was a mess of clothing and boxes of other things.

"Make yourself comfy," he said warmly.

They stayed up late talking about random things, but it put a small smile on Scarlet's face. She fell asleep on his bed, and Stephen slept on the couch that was outside his room. But both of them dreaded tomorrow because they would truly be saying goodbye to their dear friend Cory.

* * *

><p>Jolene wore a dark pink dress that reached her knees with the arms cut off at the elbow. She wore black laced gloves that climbed up her arms like vines and fused with the sleeves of her dress.<p>

Scarlet examined Jolene. She was in no stretch beautiful. The dark make-up around her face that darkened her eyes like black holes, her hair tied back from her face that made her look semi-bald from a front view, and the crease lines on her forehead that no teenager should have all made beautiful far fetched for her.

"Hey," Scarlet said, with half a small smile splayed on her lips, "It's gonna be alright."

Scarlet went back home quickly and changed into something a little more suited for a funeral. She wouldn't be caught dead in a dress, but she thought that for Jolene and for Cory, she would do it.

Stephen himself looked fairly handsome, with an expensive-looking tailored black suit.

The trio were avoided by everyone. They looked around and noticed they were the only teens there. They awkwardly made their way into a corner, waiting for the service to start.

Neither of the three was paying attention to the priest due to Jolene's constant crying and stifled wails. She attempted at making the least amount of noise possible, so with every sob she quieted with a grimace. Jolene hung her head and her shoulders shook.

An unnatural thought crossed Jolene's mind out of nowhere.

_I'm tired._

Jolene hadn't slept for days because Cory gave up his life in his sleep and she refrained from sleep to fight against whatever or whoever did this to Cory.

"Oh _Cory!_" Jolene wailed. People threw her angry looks, but that didn't stop her pained cries.

* * *

><p><em>The funeral was over. Everybody was gone except Jolene.<em>

_ "Hello?" Jolene called. She crept over to Cory's casket. Somehow, the need to be quiet was like a great weight on her shoulder. _

_ She peered into the beautiful casket at Cory's face. He looked so peaceful. There was no color in his face, and his blonde hair made him look paler. She stroked his cheek with the back of her hand, surprised at how silky his skin felt._

_ "Cory." She whispered his name and it seemed to mean something to her, and she wanted to hold this moment in her heart._

_ A high, metal-on-metal noise sounded from behind Jolene._

_ "Scarlet?" Jolene called and slowly turned around. Jolene tripped foreword and walked towards the source of the noise. _

_ "Don't _do_ that!" Jolene half shouted, half cried towards the noise. "That's harsh!"_

_ Jolene sat in a chair with her head in her hands. Cory couldn't be dead. Somehow, shocking realization hit her in a sudden wave. This wasn't the first time, but it was certainly the worst._

_ Again the cry of distant metal reached her ears, and she stood up looking in that direction again._

_ "Guys it's not funny!" Jolene shouted in a commanding tone. She was nearly in tears; you could hear it in her voice._

_ She wandered for a while, ending up in a vaguely familiar place._

Where _is_ everyone,_ she wondered with slight concern._

_ The screeching noise. That was the last thing Jolene knew before she was running for her life._

_ Jolene bowled over, one of her shoes flying off. She skidded along the pavement but managed to not scrape her limbs very badly._

_ "Damn!" Jolene shouted and threw her other shoe over her shoulder. Rocks cut into her feet, creating painful crevasses in the arches of her feet._

_ Distantly, she saw a figure standing in a relatively threateningly pose. Jolene squinted. The figure- a man by what Jolene could see- had abnormally long fingers that Jolene noticed before anything else._

_ Jolene's eyes widened. _Finger knives._ Jolene remembered Scarlet saying something about it, a man like that. Then Jolene remembered. Cory was killed by razors. Knives. Jolene worked it out, her eyes flared with anger._

_ "You killed him! You sick bastard you killed him!" She shouted and in the distance, the man grinned a humorless grin._

_ "That's right." The voice echoed around her, but she knew that it belonged to _him_. _

_ Jolene did the most illogical thing that she could think of at the moment, and ran at the figure._

_ On her sprint there, she scooped up a severed end of a picket fence. She grinned at the pointed end. She would stab it through his heart, right where he had stabbed her._

_ Jolene was coming closer now, closer, closer._

_ She was within arms reach of the figure and he made no attempts to kill her. _

_ Jolene lashed out with the stake, aiming at his chest. She closed her eyes and waited for the resistance against her blow, but there was nothing. She opened one eye, then the other. All that was in front of her was the rest of the street._

_ Her eyes widened in agony and consternation. She looked down at herself and could just barely see the tips of three blades; the fourth didn't completely puncture the skin of just below her ribs. The blades slid out of her body with a slick noise._

_ Jolene turned, her wounds leaking blood like three waterfalls down her body. She opened her mouth to scream, but there was no sound other than the blood pouring out of her mouth as well. Jolene fell to her knees, clutching her wounds._

_ Freddy Krueger advanced on her to finish her off. Jolene smiled a grim smile, full of venom and malice. _

_ "Ah ah aah." Jolene whispered and raised her fence post weakly. The attack that followed was not weak though, because she had enough energy to drive it through Freddy's leg. After that, black flowers obscured her vision. _

_ Freddy stood over her, looming. He looked like a God. Or a devil. He swiped at her, and then red flowers joined with the black ones. Vaguely, Jolene could hear someone calling her name, trying to coax her awake. But she did not oblige. She could not._

_ Jolene reached towards the figure, but her fingers made no contact. There was so much pain. But a small happy smile stretched her lips. She was dying. But she put up a fight. All for Cory. _


	11. Chapter 11

Jolene had drawn a crowd. Scarlet and Stephen were shaking her shoulders, slapping her cheeks, and shouting her name, attempting to wake her. But her eyes would not open.

She had fallen asleep, which went unnoticed by either of her friends. If Scarlet had noticed, she would have left her sleep anyways, because she didn't dream of Freddy.

Jolene's blood pooled around her, staining the ground with crimson.

"_Jolene for God's sake, wake up!_" Scarlet cried. Jolene's head turned slowly to Scarlet; she could see that there was a small, sweet yet sad smile on her lips. Jolene extended her arm out to Scarlet. Her delicate fingers were just barely brushing the smooth fabric of Scarlet's dress. Scarlet took her hand, but was forced to let go quickly when she was shoved her out of the way by the drawing crowd.

Stephen took Scarlet's arm and led her out of the crowd. When they exited, Scarlet saw growing tracks of tears run down his pale face. She raised a hand and wiped a single tear off of his nose.

"It's gonna be alright," Stephen whispered. The thought that she had said that earlier that day to Jolene transparently crossed her mind.

Both of them watched as her body was being carried away.

"All of them are gone," Stephen whispered more to himself than to Scarlet. "Scarlet, is it my time to die now?"

Scarlet stared at him, shocked. "Stephen, no more of my friends are going to die." Scarlet didn't realize how wrong she was.

* * *

><p>Stephen and Scarlet walked slowly over to the playground both of them had been at the previous day. They didn't change out of their blood soaked clothing, didn't wipe the tears from their eyes.<p>

They both sat in silence. Scarlet had stopped crying although her face was still wet. It was all too much. And crying didn't make it better. Crying was like letting go of your feelings in those small, salty drops of water that dripped from your eyes when something terribly painful had happened. Scarlet didn't want to let go of her feelings for Cory or Jolene.

Cackling laughter sounding behind the two of them and they whirled around to face and old, grimy lady. She certainly looked the part of 'crazy cat lady', with her hunched back and large purse clutched to her side like a lifeline, but probably full of cat food.

She cackled laughter again at their surprised expressions.

"You," she said in a wavering voice, pointing her shrivelled finger at Scarlet, "You are a _disease! _A disease to you _friends!_ A disease to your _family!_ And they're all dying. Because of _you._" Her voice had not the slightest hint of sympathy in it.

"Excuse me, do I know who you are?" Scarlet asked, becoming suspicious.

"No, no," she replied in an overjoyed tone. "But I know who you are. And you're best to stay away from everyone. How many of your friends have to die because you don't understand: _you're infecting them._ They would never have died in their dreams if it weren't for you. You're best to leave this town, leave it and don't show your face again."

They lady cackled one more time and turned to leave. Scarlet and Stephen let her, and exchanged puzzled expressions.

"Do you think she's right?" Scarlet asked some time afterwards. Stephen shrugged.

"You _do_ think it's my fault, don't you!" Scarlet shouted. Stephen shook his head slowly. The fire in Scarlet's eyes died instantly, and she took a seat beside him.

"I think," Stephen started, his voice barely more than a whisper, "that you are introducing the killer to us. But of course it's unintentional. And you can't be anti-social. If it's teenagers that this guy wants to kill, then let's give him teenagers. Come to school on Monday." With that last sentence, Stephen got up and left Scarlet alone.

Scarlet didn't return home for hours, and when she got to the front door she was just in time to answer a phone call from her mother.

Her mother sounded awful. She sounded fragile, hurt, and tortured. Scarlet could only imagine what she looked like. Sunken eyes, hair a mess, and no respect for personal hygiene.

Scarlet wasn't paying attention to what her mother was saying, but mumbling 'Yeah' and 'Uh-huh' in the right places. And it didn't matter because her mother was only speaking gibberish.

"Do you want to talk to Jack-" _I think he's home_, Scarlet was about to say when her mother started shrieking on the other end. Scarlet heard nurses in the background trying to calm her and silence her violent screams. Scarlet threw the phone down onto the dock, and sighed.

Scarlet made two grilled cheese sandwiches, one for her and one for Jack. As she was just about to dig in, Jack waltzed through the front door, perfectly sober. His eyes were as dark as the circles underneath, his skin was pale and the way he slumped in his chair as he plopped down suggested that he was not in a good condition.

"Here," Scarlet said and slid a plate with the second sandwich across the table.

"Thanks," he mumbled. They ate in silence for a while, and when Scarlet was about half done she said in a cautious tone, "You know, something very strange happened today."

Jack looked up from his barely eaten food and stared at her face intently.

"Stephen and I were in the park after the funeral," she said and choked on her words as she omitted Jolene's death. "And some old woman approached me. Told me I was diseased or something. Because my friends were dying from Freddy."

"That _is_ interesting," Jack said, but his tone showed that he clearly was _not_ interested.

"And then Stephen, I think that he said this but I'm not sure, he said that if I'm a disease, then I could 'infect' the kids at school for Freddy to kill."

Jack's eyes lit up with greed. He obviously hated children.

"And Jolene died today as well." Scarlet stood up and hurried from the room with her meal left uneaten.

The next few sleepless days (and nights) went by slowly. Scarlet spent most of the time clutching the photo of her father.

She arrived at school early the next Monday, and she searched the crowd of teenagers for Stephen. Eventually she found his bowed head in the crowd and made her way towards him.

"Scarlet, you showed!" He said cheerfully. They walked side by side talking, and with every word Scarlet said Stephen nodded enthusiastically, with an eager smile on his face. A few people pointed and laughed at him.

In classes, Scarlet frequently turned around to Stephen, where he looked awfully lonely with two empty desks beside him where their late friends used to sit.

"Scarlet!" One teacher shouted enthusiastically. "Great to have you back!" Scarlet mumbled a thanks and continued on her way.

They had to go in pairs for one class (Scarlet was sure it was English class) and she got paired up with one of the most popular girls in the class. When she saw this, she muttered, "Slut" under her breath and smiled when she heard Stephen in hysterics behind her.

The girl, whose name was Rosie, was worse than Scarlet thought. She wore a low cut shirt with purple leopard print on it, and a skirt so short it might as well have been non-existent. Her voice was high and dragged on the last syllable of every few words. Her face was so caked with make-up that Scarlet could have dragged one of her knives across that face and not leave so much as a scratch.

Rosie was droning on and on about her various boyfriends, which ones to keep and which ones to get rid of, asking if she should go to a party this weekend or not.

"A party?" Scarlet asked with mild interest, working on their project for both of them.

"Yeah, it's going to be _great._ Boys, music, a house to ourselves! What could go wrong?" Rosie enthused.

"How many people would you say are going?" Scarlet asked, turning her head slightly to allow Rosie into her field of vision.

"I don't know," Rosie giggled, "But David Baker is going, can you believe it?"

"No Rosie, I don't believe it," Scarlet sighed.

"Hey, I need someone to make me look good. You should come too!" Rosie took Scarlet's arm, digging her fake nails into her skin.

"Hmm… just to make you look good? No. Can't. Sorry."

"Come on!" Rosie cried, attracting the attention of nearby groups.

"Will there be alcohol?" Scarlet asked, her hair a curtain around her face, masking her smug expression. At the moment, she wanted nothing more than to go to this party. Maybe it will keep Freddy away from her for a while, and maybe she could-

"Yes! As much alcohol as you'd like! I just wanna look good!" Tears were nearly streaming down Rosie's rosy cheeks.

"I'll be there." Scarlet smiled a nasty smile. She had her way.

Rosie gave Scarlet directions to where the party was being held at the end of the week just as the bell sounded to end their period.

Stephen fell in step with Scarlet in the hall.

"Steve," she said, her voice gaining a proud tone, "I'm going to a party this weekend."

Stephen nodded in understanding. He could read Scarlet's mind like a book and knew her every motive.

"See you later," she said and made her way through the crowd and out of the building.


End file.
